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Arnold Schwarzenegger Wins 2016: YouTube Presents Year’s Best Ads

YouTube is the future of online video advertising, because on YouTube ads need to be so strong that viewers choose to watch them. That’s the goal for every video advertiser these days, no matter what platform they’re using. Viewers have the power, so give them something they’ll want to watch.

YouTube has announced the year’s ten best online video ads, and it’s worth taking a look. The winner is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who took part in an epic ad for a mobile game called Mobile Strike. This slo-mo brawler has been viewed over 100 million times on YouTube alone.

Other top ads are from major brands such as Nike, Samsung, and Mountain Dew. Some of the ads are funny and some inspirational, but all of them are a pleasure to watch.

“YouTube just announced its top 10 ads of 2016, and there are some truly great and entertaining ads on there (PuppyMonkeyBaby is a favorite of mine),” says Brendan Gahan, founder and executive vice president of Epic Signal. “It’s great to see so many brands investing in social video. Hopefully next year we’ll see more strategic investments in great storytelling and embracing native YouTube creators.”

YouTube noted that many of the views came from mobile, a continuing trend. For the five Super Bowl ads on the list, it said, 81 percent of their viewing time came from mobile devices.

“Video continues to be the most compelling way to tell great stories that connect with people,” says Kyoo “Q” Kim, chief revenue officer for Mixpo. “Many of the top YouTube ads work because they are first and foremost great stories that engage users and tap into their emotions or fantasies. It is not surprising that a majority of the video views are on mobile devices. We at Mixpo find that most of our publisher partners are now seeing a majority of their total traffic on mobile.”

Ready to see the best of the best? Scroll down to see the top ten ads, starting with number one.